Stasja Koot

Stasja Koot is an Assistant Professor at the Sociology of Development and Change group, Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and also serves as a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Geography, Environmental Management & Energy Studies at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Her academic journey began with MA degrees in Cultural Anthropology and Environmental Studies, followed by extensive fieldwork in Namibia where she supported the Hai//om ethnic group in establishing Treesleeper Camp, a community-based ecotourism initiative.

Her research expertise spans Political ecology, Indigenous studies, Tourism, Development sociology, Anthropology, Nature conservation, Wildlife management, and Southern Africa studies. Koot's work critically examines the intersections of conservation, tourism, and indigenous rights in southern Africa, with particular attention to power dynamics, colonial legacies, and alternative conservation models. Her recent publications reveal a growing focus on convivial conservation approaches as alternatives to market-driven conservation models.

Her scholarly output demonstrates consistent engagement with critical issues in conservation politics, including epistemological violence against social science research, limitations of community-based ecotourism, and the unsustainability of southern Africa's wildlife economy. Koot's work increasingly incorporates African philosophical concepts like ubuntu as frameworks for reimagining human-nature relationships.

She has played significant organizational roles including chairing the Programme Committee of the Master of Tourism and serving on the advisory board of the Political Ecology Network (POLLEN). Koot previously held positions as a Postdoctoral researcher at the International Institute for Social Studies (The Hague) and as a Tourism and Research Lecturer at InHolland University of Applied Sciences.